Middle East Post War

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The Ottoman Empire could no longer carry on the war with the Allies. Stricken with economic collapse, famine, and public unrest towards the war, the Ottoman Empire realized that peace with the Allies had to be found. The Ottomans sent captured British General Charles Townshend back to British lines in hopes of opening communication.[1] The fighting in the Middle Eastern theater came to a halt on October 30th 1918 with the Armistice of Mudros. The terms, agreed to by the Ottomans and British (the French had been excluded on purpose by the British), of the armistice were: The Dardanelles and the Bosporus were open to any nation, Allied troops could occupy any strategic area, fort, port etc., the Ottoman army would demilitarize (with the exception of where peace had to be kept), Ottoman soldiers had to be removed from the Arab world, and all other Central Power soldiers had to leave within thirty days.[2] Following the signing of the armistice, Britain occupied Istanbul and began to implore their plans for carving up the Ottoman Empire.

[1] Spencer Tucker, The European Powers In the First World War: An Encyclopedia, (Library of Congress, 1996) 639.

[2] Tucker, The European Powers In the First World War: An Encyclopedia, 529.